Story highlights
Secret Cinema announces a simultaneous screening in London, San Francisco, Rome
The screening is being held "to "protest against censorship," Secret Cinema says
Sony canceled plans to release "The Interview" next week after a cyberattack, threats
Secret Cinema has not yet disclosed what film will be shown
Events company Secret Cinema has said it will hold a simultaneous screening of an as-yet unannounced film in London, Rome and San Francisco on Sunday to “protest against censorship.”
Secret Cinema has not specified what has prompted its move.
But its announcement follows the decision by Sony Pictures this week to cancel the release of its movie “The Interview” after a cyberattack and threats against moviegoers from a group of North Korea-backed hackers.
Critics have slammed that decision as caving to hackers and muzzling free speech.
Washington outraged over Sony decision
The Secret Cinema screening is being held in partnership with the global free speech campaign group Article 19.
“Secret Cinema passionately believes in the freedom to create and is looking for partners to join them in hosting a screening that will happen simultaneously across the globe,” a Facebook page created for the event says.
“The film, for the moment is secret.
“Please come dressed in a dark suit, and bring a small gift for a stranger.”
Any proceeds raised from the London event – to be held at an as-yet undisclosed location in the capital’s east – will go to Article 19, Secret Cinema said. Tickets go on sale Friday.
The company urged anyone else around the world who wants also to hold a screening to get in touch.
Balloon activists vow to send copies of ‘The Interview’
“The Interview,” which stars Seth Rogen and James Franco, is a comedy with a plot that involves a plan to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
U.S. officials say they think the attack on Sony was ordered by North Korea’s angry leadership. North Korea’s government has denied responsibility for the crippling hack, even as its state news agency applauded it as a “righteous deed.”
North Korea deep into cyberwarfare, defector says
Three U.S. movie theaters – the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in Dallas-Fort Worth, the Plaza Atlanta Theatre and Cleveland’s Capitol Theatre – planned to screen “Team America: World Police” instead of “The Interview.”
But Paramount Pictures canceled that, too, the theaters said. A spokeswoman for Paramount declined to comment.
Released a decade ago, “Team America: World Police” used puppets to lampoon Kim’s father, Kim Jong Il, memorably featuring him singing about his loneliness at the top of the despotic state.
CNN’s Bryony Jones contributed to this report.
